Razorback Football Practice Report – Aug. 10, 2013

BY ANDRES FOCIL

FAYETTEVILLE — The University of Arkansas football team held its first scrimmage of preseason camp inside Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium on Saturday. Head Coach Bret Bielema commented afterwards on the energy and play from the Razorbacks.

“I liked what went on out there,” Coach Bielema said. “I couldn’t be happier with their football IQ growth. That’s something that we’ve really been stressing. It’s one thing to be a football player, but it’s a better thing to be smart football players.”

With Saturday’s scrimmage marking the end of the first week of preseason camp, Coach Bielema expressed his satisfaction with the consistent and continued growth of the Razorbacks.

“Just taking everything a little step at the time,” Coach Bielema said. “Now we’ve taken a certain amount of steps to get ourselves in position. I think you only get good at football by playing football. It’s a very unique sport, in that manner.”

The Razorback receiving corps was a position group that stood out to Coach Bielema during the scrimmage.

“One great thing is we have three senior receivers,” Coach Bielema said. “Obviously with the departure of seniors from a year ago, it’s their chance to step up. I thought our receivers today did an exceptional job competing for the football. It’s something we’ve been stressing. Our guys are just competing for the football that much more.”

The work of the offensive line, specifically in the running game, was another area of play that Coach Bielema praised.

“I think any time you lose your starting center and (then) to have the composure our [first-team] offense had in the run game–I was very excited,” Coach Bielema said. “I thought Grady Ollison did very well. He was blocking Chris Smith. Brey Cook is playing very, very well and I thought some others did some good things.”

Check ArkansasRazorbacks.com for continued coverage of preseason camp, including highlights from Sunday’s Media Day.

Arkansas Razorback football single-game tickets are now on sale online and can be purchased at ArkansasRazorbacks.com, at the Razorback Ticket Center or by calling 800-982-HOGS (4647). Apitionally, tickets for the two Little Rock games can be purchased at the War Memorial Stadium Ticket Office, which is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m.-6 p.m.

For more information on Arkansas football, follow @RazorbackFB on Twitter.